Leadership comentary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Leadership comentary - Essay Example In this essay, I will discuss on understanding empathy, which is the leadership skill that I have obtained during my practice. In this discussion, I will use a reflective model to show how understanding empathy is achieved during my practice. Gibbs reflective model is what I will use (Gibbs, 1988). This reflection model has six stages: description of the events, expressing feelings, evaluating the value and ability, analysis of how bad or good the situation is, conclusion on the findings, and lastly making an action plan (Gibbs, 1988). In this essay, I will apply Gibbs reflective model to help in relating theory and critical thought to nursing practice as it may allow. Leadership role and the evidence base for the leadership skill will be included in the discussion. I will then give a conclusion to the essay that will talk about my reflection skills, recognize my qualification and present both my personal and professional development (Fradd, 2004). Understanding empathy is the skill of leadership which I have chosen to deal with in this essay. I have chosen this as it is one of the quality that is needed in this field. In my first placement, I got myself to a situation where empathy was really needed. Understanding others in the personal level that is ‘being in their shoes’ was really needed in my first placement. This gave me a sense of curiosity and I wanted to learn and know more about empathy. At this point, I started researching on the skill and my knowledge developed. Power, influence and authority are basic for leadership. However,  competent leaders ought to use less power and authority and rather use more influence.   Furthermore, motivation, appreciation and persuasion are more important than a simple show of power. Nurse leaders should employ three main influence categories in creating a supportive care environment.  These include mentoring by instruction, modeling by example and building caring relationships (Chin, 2008). Descript ion of events is the initial stage of Gibbs (1988) model. I had to look after a 60 year old male patient with primary diagnosis Cancer Rectum day 14 post-op in a surgical ward. The patient had difficulties with his speaking but could understand little English. I have learned that even when under pressure, l don’t have to rush through the patient (l had to look after 3 other patients). Misunderstanding and miscommunication result in not giving effective care to patients. I used eye contact and body language in order to meet his needs. The patient was friendly and responded well, which boosted my confidence especially on mobilizing him using therapeutic communication skills. In order to communicate effectively with the patient, I had to be patient and learn new communication skills that are; gestures and body language (D'Antonio, 2010; Marquis & Huston, 2009). The second stage of Gibbs (1988) model of reflection involves discussion about feelings and thoughts. I was aware that I had to do a good job and that the patients were my responsibility. Therefore, the difficulty in communication got me nervous and worried. This made me feel a lot of pressure, as I did not want the patient to know that I had difficulties in communicating with him. This got me worried about how the nursing training programme can incorporate such lessons. The friendly and respo

Case Study on the Feasibility of a new venture Essay

Case Study on the Feasibility of a new venture - Essay Example The initial success of the Cool Moose Creamery in Ontario should be studied for comparison purposes prior to the financial commitment of a franchise investment. Of considerable interest is the notion of whether the initial location of the first business contributed to its success? Moreover, what were the location factors that contributed to the success of the first business? A common refrain in real estate is location, location and location again. This maxim, of course, is not only limited to home prices. Consideration must be given to visibility and accessibility. Obviously, a highly visible location along an extremely busy thoroughfare where the eyes of all passer-bys will be drawn to your sign, thus, making business almost ideal. In a highly competitive business environment, start-ups may find these prime locations already long occupied by established players. There are still options for the establishment of a new business or franchise: buying out an unsuccessful business in an ot herwise useful location or appropriating a property as close as one can get to prime real estate, yet on the fringes. In this case a choice made here could prove to be influential with respect to every other subsequent factor. If a prime location for your franchise of Cool Moose Creamery can be determined, and is theoretically available then, as with most other material decisions, the cost/benefit analysis must come into play. It may be possible to purchase or lease a property in a highly visible location, but this cost must be weighed against future earnings. There must be a sense of the likely revenue within a particular time frame, as well as one should realize how high the benefits of visibility might be depending on a prime location. Even if the money does not come directly out of pocket, such as it is in the case with the $20,000 bank loan that must be sought, too much capital invested in the initial start up could lead to more debt, or more complex financing arrangements that could make the business more trouble than profit. These factors are never easy to predict, but the small business owner must do the best he can while examining – whenever possible examples of similar businesses, and the local operations in similar situations as guides for cost and profitability. Other factors that will influence the success of any franchise may be forces less visible and tangible than location or the initial equipment that must be purchased. Local zoning ordinances must also be taken into account, with respect to both above board and clandestine forces. Even if the zoning regulations and requirements are obeyed with precision, investigation is warranted concerning under-the-table problems or restrictions. Have other business owners complained about a particular individual in city government with control over regulatory decisions that might impede small businesses? Could there be zoning ordinances that have unusual sub-clauses or interpretations that are not obvious at cursory examination but which prove surprisingly problematic after an investment has begun? Question such as these can only be addressed through word-of-mouth, largely from anecdotal accounts, and of course – prior personal experience. This leads the small business owner into the complex question of a financial 'cushion'. One must consider whether it is possible, or feasible to determine minimum initial start up money, and then wait until it is possible to acquire extra funding held in reserve

Discussion of Literature Set in Dystopian Societies Essay Example for Free

Discussion of Literature Set in Dystopian Societies Essay This paper takes a look at three renowned dystopian authors; George Orwell, Anthony Burgess and Aldous Huxley and compares the dystopian societies that are described in their respective novels 1984, A Clockwork Orange and Brave New World. The ways in which the rights and freedoms of the citizens in each of their novels are suppressed and controlled is described with particular reference to the use of propaganda, language, sexual relationships and violence. The paper will progress to consider the ways in which the protagonists attempt to rebel from their situation and overcome cruel and unfair laws in order to escape the society. In discussing the ability of characters to overcome the unjust constraints of their society, it is worthwhile considering in some detail what a dystopian society is and how it is manifested. The concept of dystopia is inextricably related to the idea of Utopia, a theory that was developed originally by Plato in Republic and further explored by St Thomas More in Utopia. Whereas Utopia is envisaged as a perfect society where subjects live peacefully side-by-side, dystopia is the antithesis of this; â€Å"dystopia was invented to denote a bad place. Utopia expresses desire, dystopia fear† (Aldridge, 53). Quite often a dystopian society is one that is believed to have formed as a direct result of unsavory actions that were taken in order to achieve a utopian society; the methods used to solve problems and assert control lead to undesirable outcomes. In literature a dystopian society often has a number of distinct characteristics. One of which is the manipulation of one group of people by another. A Clockwork Orange, 1984 and Brave New World (BNW) are all examples of novels that depict such a society. In all three novels a minority group of people have acquired the power to control the citizens and they utilize this to command and dictate every element of their subject’s lives. Psychological oppression is in evidence in all three novels and the characters are limited in their thoughts and expressions. In both 1984 and A Clockwork Orange, the dystopian society is represented by violent and disturbing images. Fear and hate is utilized as a means of controlling the population and, as described by O’Brien in 1984, a strong correlation is formed between mental and physical being, â€Å"We control matter because we control the mind. Reality is inside the skull† (Orwell, 331). The prime emotion that is encouraged in the population is that of fear and the threat of brutality and torture the protagonists face entail that they are able to suspend even their own thoughts in order to evade punishment. Winston permits himself to think only of those subjects and issues that he has permission to think of, whereas Alex specifically avoids thoughts of violence in order to eliminate the chance he will become violently ill as a result of the side effects of the Ludivico he experienced at the government’s hands. In both cases the protagonists are no longer able to freely express themselves, their fear psychologically controls them and their entire mental thought processes altered as a direct result of this. Whilst A Brave New World, also describes a society where people’s thought processes and actions are controlled, this control is achieved in a very different way; through drugs and sex. Immediately form birth, the citizens are physically, chemically and psychologically encouraged to be happy and content. Where, in 1984 and A Clockwork Orange, the characters are punished for rebelling against the constraints of the society in which they are placed, in A Brave New World the people are provided with rewards for following the doctrines of their leaders. In this novel the subjects are conditioned from an early age to accept the values of the ten world leaders and they are indoctrinated to a value system that is based on superficial pleasures. The leaders thus control their society by limiting their aspirations and desires; the people accept simple things and are thus unlikely to rebel against their leaders. In all three novels, the ways in which the dystopian society is controlled is physically and visually represented by the use of propaganda. In 1984 the government literature, videos and advertisements are aimed at enforcing the state of fear that they have created. Reality is purposely altered in order to inspire feelings in the nation, feelings that can ultimately be used by the government to assert control and prevent rebellion. Clearly the propaganda utilized in 1984 is very effective and stirs strong emotions in Winston and the people in his social group and he describes the effects as they watch a film and experience, â€Å"a desire to kill, to smash faces in with a sledgehammer seemed to flow through the whole group of people,† (Orwell, 16). In A Clockwork Orange propaganda is also of immense significance and is utilized to control the feelings and emotions of the subjects. In this novel, two main forms of propaganda exist. The Ludivico Technique represents an outright propaganda, where the subject takes drugs and observes negative images in order to form associations with such images. In Alex’s case watching the repetition of violent images causes him to feel physical pain at the thought of violence and thus the propaganda serves to stem his aggression. Mass media is also utilized, as in 1984, and subliminal messages are utilized to encourage the populace to obey the state. Propaganda is observed in the posters in Alex’s home and the effectiveness of this is evidenced by impact that the images have upon him both prior to, and post, his Ludivico treatment at the state’s hands. Prior to his experience he seems unable to associate with the graffiti ridden images in the poster and he cannot recognize the significance of the visuals. However, after his treatment the poster appears clean and renewed and is able to fully recognize their message. A Brave New World also features the use of propaganda as a means of controlling the emotions and free will of the citizens. Fordisms are used to assert the supremacy of their leader and the inhabitants of society are fed subliminal messages as they sleep. They have no free will and thus become dehumanized. A further means by which the dystopian society engendered and controlled within the three novels in through the encouragement, or discouragement, of social interaction. In 1984 the subjects of society are sexually repressed and sex is permitted for procreation purposes only, â€Å"to beget children for the service of the Party (Orwell, 69). Sex is no longer associated as being pleasurable and natural but instead becomes an unemotional procedure. In A Clockwork Orange Alex is unable to accommodate thoughts of sexual pleasure as his treatment entails that he now associates this with violence and thus experiences pain at the thought of partaking in a sexual act. His inability to behave as a normal man transpose him into the â€Å"clockwork orange† (Burgess, 96), he is a machine incapable of experiencing and fulfilling his natural urges. In both 1984 and A Clockwork Orange the mechanical, unemotional feelings attributed to sex and lust serve to dehumanize the characters and thus prevent them from feelings and emotions that could place the rule of the governments at risk. In Brave New World the government openly encourages sex as it is recognized as a means by which sexual desire can conquer and eliminate all other emotions. In this novel babies are artificially created in laboratories and sex therefore serves the purpose of pleasure alone. Family units cannot be formed as babies are without parents and thus the subjects do not form bonds and have become promiscuous. Although the use of sex as a control mechanism is different, like 1984 and A Clockwork Orange the intention is the same, to remove emotions from the subjects. A crucial characteristic of the regimes in place within the dystopian societies concerns language and communication. Language, as a means of communicating and forming relationships with others in society, is suppressed and with it is the extent of human interaction. The limit on language in all three books serves to limit free thought. In 1984 Newspeak is utilized as a means of brainwashing members of society and forcing them to think in a predetermined manner. In both Brave New World and 1984 the government’s intention to diminish the vocabulary reflects their plans to further diminish the thoughts of their public; without the words to communicate they are unable the commit thought crime, â€Å"In the end we shall make thought crime literally impossible (†¦) there will be no words in which to express it†. (Orwell, 200-201). In A Clockwork Orange Alex’s use of language acts as a means by which he can rebel from society. Nadsat allows him to communicate with the members of his gang and thus achieve the human interaction that the government attempts to suppress. In addition to this it serves as a means by which the unwelcome behaviors exhibited by Alex can be separated from the rest of the society, who, as with 1984, do not have a vocabulary capable of expressing such words. A further commonality between all three novels is that of rebellion, with the main characters in all three books actively rebelling against the system into which they have been indoctrinated. Winston, Alex and John all begin to question the merits of their society and, in all three cases they utilize a past reference as a means against which they can assess their current situation. For Winston this is his diary (which allows him to record the past and therefore have a term of reference), for Alex it is his meeting with Pete and for John it is Shakespeare’s Othello that acts as a significant prompt. Winston’s rebellion is manifested in three main ways. He commits the crime of keeping a diary, he partakes in a sexual affair and he joins a brotherhood. His actions reveal that he has realized the ills of the society and is trying to actively prevent himself from being fully indoctrinated. However, his efforts are not entirely successful. Through his capture and punishment in room 101 he is ultimately forced to love Big Brother and he rejoins the society as a fully integrated member. John too is not entirely successful in his rebellion against the repressive society in which he has been born. He attempts to rebel by refusing to partake in sexual contact, discourages the use of the drug soma and eventually causes a riot. The violence his actions engender causes a frenzied orgy which he himself takes part in. Such an orgy is a manifestation of the very society against which he is trying to rebel and he takes the only action that he feels remains, he kills himself. Finally, in the case of Alex, the effects of his treatment entail that he is forever changed and his attempts at violent behavior and rebellion are put to an immediate halt. However, unlike Winston, there are indications at the end of the novel that he is beginning to free himself and his ability to think and behave as an individual is being renewed. His reaction to the appearance of his friend Pete alert Alex to the changes he needs to make in his own life. However, his use of the Nadsat when speaking of his hope for the future, â€Å"Tomorrow is all like sweet flowers and the turning vonny earth and the stars and the old Luna up there (Burgess 191), indicates that he is beginning to break from his control. Whilst rebellion against doctrine is present in all three of these novels, so is the reality that the rebellion has failed. In every case there is no real evidence that the dystopian society has been changed as a result of the protagonist’s actions and the characters appear to have been largely isolated in their ability to recognize the ill merits of the way in which they are being ruled. The efforts to overcome the cruel society are short-lived and the message portrayed is that members of a society cannot overturn their conditions alone; to truly escape the unfair laws citizens need to act as a collective whole. Works Referenced: Aldridge, Alan. Consumption (Key Concepts). University Park, PA: Polity, 2003. Burgess, Anthony. A Clockwork Orange. New York: W. W. Norton Company, 1986. More, Thomas. Utopia (Penguin Classics). London: Penguin Classics, 2003. Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. New York: Plume, 2003. Plato. Plato: The Republic (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought). New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Oral Health Problems In Children Health And Social Care Essay

Oral Health Problems In Children Health And Social Care Essay Dental caries is the most common oral health problem in children. It is not a new phenomenon in children. Dental caries can arise in early childhood as an aggressive tooth decay that affects the primary teeth of infants and toddlers. Caries constitutes the single most common chronic disease of childhood, affecting as many as 40-50% of U.S. and British children (Pitts et al., 2007) and 60-90% of children worldwide between the ages of 2 and 11 years (Donahue et al., 2005). Dental caries is the localised destruction of susceptible dental hard tissues by acidic by-products from bacterial fermentation of dietary carbohydrates (Fejerskov and Kidd, 2003). The signs of the carious demineralisation are seen on the hard dental tissues, but the disease process is initiated within the bacterial biofilm (dental plaque) that covers a tooth surface. Moreover, the very early changes in the enamel are not detected with traditional clinical and radiographic methods. The disease is initially reversible and can be halted at any stage, even when some dentine or enamel is destroyed (cavitation), provided that enough biofilm can be removed. Dental caries is a chronic disease that progresses slowly in most people. The disease can be seen in both the crown (coronal caries) and root (root caries) portions of primary and permanent teeth, and on smooth as well as pitted and fissured surfaces. It can affect enamel, the outer covering of the crown; cementum, the outermost layer of the root; and dentine, the tissue beneath both enamel and cementum. Caries in primary teeth of preschool children is commonly referred to as early childhood caries. ECC is an alarming problem because the disease is so common and widespread amongst young children. Example, study done by (Zahara et al., 2010) prevalence of caries among preschoolers age 6 and 5 in Malaysia was 60%. And at rural Manitoba community the prevalence of ECC was 44% (Schroth and Moffatt, 2005). Previously, caries in the children was described by a variety of terms including nursing bottle caries, nursing caries, baby bottle caries, baby bottle tooth decay, milk bottle syndrome, and prolonged nursing habit caries. But the new terminology, Early Childhood Caries (ECC) helps us to better reflect that this problem is multifactorial etiologic process not only due to inappropriate feedings methods (Warren, 2008; Ismail 2008). Great needs are need for uniformity when diagnosing and reporting the early childhood caries condition, especially for research purposes. In this respect, a workshop was held in April 1999 in Bethesda, Maryland. In a report for this meeting, (Drury et al., 1999) defined the early childhood caries (ECC) as the presence of 1 or more decayed (noncavitated or cavitated lesions), missing (due to caries), or filled tooth surfaces in any primary tooth in a child 71 months of age or younger. In children younger than 3 years of age, any sign of smooth-surface caries is indicative of severe early childhood caries (S-ECC). From ages 3 through 5, 1 or more cavitated, missing (due to caries), or filled smooth surfaces in primary maxillary anterior teeth or a decayed, missing, or filled score of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥4 (age 3), à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥5 (age 4), or à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥6 (age 5) surfaces constitutes S-ECC. 2.2 Etiology of early childhood caries Dental caries is an infectious and transmissible disease. Dental caries is a multifactorial disease that starts with microbiological shifts within the complex biofilm and is affected by salivary flow and composition, exposure to fluoride, consumption of dietary sugars, and by preventive behaviours (cleaning teeth). Caries is the result from prolong imbalance in the demineralisation and remineralisation process in the oral cavity. Dissolution of tooth structure by high level of acid concentration which produced by the metabolism of dietary carbohydrate by oral bacteria will promote a demineralisation of tooth structure when the pH of plaque drops below the critical level (pH 5.5) (Riva and Loveren, 2003). However, occurrence of dental caries is not as simple as that. The natural protective factors will try to repair the mechanism by promote remineralisation. It was helps by saliva which play a major role in protecting the teeth from acid challenge. The protective factors of the saliva are, the effective bicarbonate buffering affect, the flow and oral clearance rate and Ca2+, PO43- and fluoride ion contain in the saliva (Mount and Hume, 1998). Reposition of mineral (remineralisation) will occur after the pH of plaque rises (Riva and Loveren, 2003). Development of dental caries occurs when susceptible tooth surface colonized with cariogenic bacteria and present of dietary source of sucrose or refined sugar is present. (Axelson, 2000, Caufield and Griffen, 2000). Generally, it can illustrate under Figure 2.1 below; ETIOLOGY 001 Figure 2.1: Development of dental caries (Keyes, 1960) 2.2.1 Dental Plaque Dental plaque plays a major role in contributing a dental caries. Dental plaque is an accumulation of bacteria and intercellular matrix that form the biofilm that adheres to the surfaces of teeth and other oral structures in the absence of effective oral hygiene (Harris et al., 2009). 2.2.2 Dietary factor Diet plays an important role in preventing and promoting oral diseases including dental caries. Dental caries is a modern, life style dependent disease because of fermentable of carbohydrate. In populations which highly exposed to high sucrose containing food manifested with most severe forms caries (Caufield and Griffen, 2000). Increase frequency of carbohydrate intake will increase the caries risk especially in populations with poor oral hygiene habits and lack exposure to the fluoride. However, in populations with good oral hygiene and expose to fluoride either systemic or topical, frequency of diet intake will become a weak risk factor (Axelson, 2000). 2.2.3 Microbiologic factor Fitzgerald and Keyes in year 1960, persons who firstly demonstrate that the dental disease is an infectous disease and can be transmissible. The sources of bacteria that cause dental caries derived from bacterial populations in the oral cavity named normal flora. The most important bacteria in development dental caries are the mutans streptococci. Mutans streptococci are acidogenic and can adhere to tooth surface. It also can produce extracellular and intracellular polysaccharides from sucrose. So, it represent that mutans streptococci fulfill all the requirements of caries to induce bacteria (Axelson, 2000). Mutans streptococci and other bacteria colonies will colonize the oral cavity after emergance of infants first tooth(Caufield and Griffen, 2000). With present of fermentation of carbohydrate, bacteria pathogens will produce lactic acid, and this acid dissolves the hydroxyapatite crystal structure of the tooth (Caufield and Griffen, 2000). Newborn baby usually have a sterile mouth. Transmission of the microbes to the mouth can be derived from water, food, and other nutritious fluid, but the main route is via saliva. Studies have shown that the transmission of oral streptococci and Gram-negative species in children predominantly from the behaviour of mothers and primary caregivers through their intimate contact, sharing and tasting foods on a spoon or pacifier (Caufield et al., 1993). Infants acquired Mutans streptococci at a median age of 26 months. High level of Mutans streptococci in mothers saliva will put their infants to be acquired by these bacteria earlier. It is means that infants exhibit levels of Mutans streptococci corresponding to their mothers level (Caufield et al., 1993). Because of that, mothers need to be educating on how the caries transmissible and the importance of have good dental practice for themselves their childrens. 2.3 Determinants of oral health in children There were correlation between the etiologic factor in dental caries, determinants of caries (diet, fluoride exposure, microbial species) and involvement of cofounders in dental caries such as socio economic status, education level, knowledge, attitudes and behavior as Figure 2.2 below. fejerkov 001 Figure 2.2: Schematic illustration of the determinants of caries process. (Adapted from Fejeskov and Manji, 1990) 2.3.1 Socioeconomic factors Socioeconomic factors especially educational levels become the most important external factors related to dental caries nowadays (Axelson, 2000). There is a strong correlation between incidence of caries in children and the socioeconomic status of the families of those children. That is, children with caries tend to come from low-income or lower socioeconomic backgrounds and lower parental educational level (Leake et al., 2008, Finlayson et al., 2007, Schroth and Moffatt, 2005). 2.3.2 Behavioural factors Behavioural factors such as frequency of consumption of sugar daily, tooth brushing behaviour (Leake et al., 2008), inappropriate feeding practice either bottle feeding or breast feeding (Schroth and Moffatt, 2005, Mohebbi et al., 2008, Tyagi, 2008) and age of first visit to dental clinic (Rayner, 2003, Schroth and Moffatt, 2005) were related to the risk of dental caries especially in children. Parental attitudes towards oral health especially mother are is important to prevent occurrence of dental caries among children (Saied-Moallemi et al., 2008). 2.3.3 Environmental factors Environmental and cultural factors play a role in the development of caries. In newly industrialized countries, the incidence of dental caries increases when people previously eat a starchy staple foods and now move to refined carbohydrate diet. For most industrialized countries, high risk of caries related to persons in a lower socioeconomic and immigrant groups (Riva and Loveren, 2003). 2.4 The impact of early childhood caries to the children and parents Extensive dental decay among children, if left untreated will impact on both oral and general health, including quality of life. Physical function will affected because of pain, disturbed sleep, and difficulty to eat hard, hot and cold food. Mentally, dental caries cause fear and angry in children. The social functions also disturbed by missing preschool or day care, avoid playing with friends and not interested to join family activity. Emotionally, children disturbed with difficulty to say certain words (Cunnion et al., 2010). In other words, dental caries in children will effects physical, mental, social and emotional well being of the children. And most important things it causes lower quality of life of the children who are in growing stages. The impact of ECC on parents We know that parents contribute in their children oral health. But there are still limited study in investigating the relationship between the parents and their children oral health. (Schroth, 2007) found that parents with a better knowledge and attitude towards their children oral health more likely to have children with better oral health. In this study we are trying to explore the relationship between the parents oral health and their children oral health status. 2.5 The availability of children oral health related quality of life assessment Currently, there has been increase research development in measuring oral health related quality of life. The oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) instruments designed and used to investigate the impacts of oral problems in children, and recently have been designed to be use for 6-14 year old children. (Li et al., 2008, Easton et al., 2008, Klaassen et al., 2009, Cunnion et al., 2010). And very few have been developed for use in children mainly specifically for children age less than 6 years old. Child Oral Impacts on Daily Performances (Child-OIDP) were used to assess the prevalence and severity of the oral impacts in children age 10-12 years old. This questionnaire also can be used to assess oral health needs in population surveys, thus making it useful for planning services. The Child-OIDP assesses oral impacts on the following daily performances like eating, speaking, cleaning teeth, smiling, emotional stability, relaxing, doing schoolwork and social contact (BernabÃÆ' © et al., 2009). Instruments to assess oral health related negative impacts for children aged 3-5 years, recently was developed in the United States, in English language by (Pahel et al., 2007) called the Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS) which derived from the Childhood Oral Health Quality of Life (COHQoL) instrument developed by (Jokovic et al., 2002). This questionnaire seems to be adequate to measure quality of life of children in the age 3-5 years old and their families. The instrument is short and concise to be completed by the childs parent or primary caregiver for use in epidemiological surveys to discriminate the quality of life between children with or without dental disease. (Li et al., 2008) was translated the English version of ECOHIS into French version for the questionnaire can be use in the French language population. (Klaassen et al., 2009) use ECOHIS questionnaire to explore whether oral health related quality of life in young children will improve after oral rehabil itation after general anesthesia. They also study any changes towards dental fear. Canadian researchers (Jokovic et al., 2002) have developed the Child Oral a health Quality of Life (COHQoL) questionnaire due to their concern about the measurement of child health status preciously was based on the reports by parents and caregivers. In their questionnaire, there are several questionnaires for parent or caregiver (Parental-Caregiver Perceptions Questionnaires, P-CPQ) and Family Impact Scale (FIS) for children aged 6-14 years and three Child Perceptions Questionnaires for children aged 6 to 7(CPQ6-7), 8 to 10 (CPQ8-10), and 11-14(CPQ11-14) years of age. The Infant Toddler Quality of Life (ITQoL) questionnaire was developed in year 1994 by Landgraf JM. ITQoL was designed to measure a quality of life for children as 2 months up to 5 years old. The ITQOL items and scales developed to measure physical function, growth and development, bodily pain, temperament and moods, behavior and general health perceptions. ITQOL also includes scales to measure parental impact (time and emotions). Study by (Raat et al., 2007), to evaluate feasibility, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and concurrent and discriminative validity of the ITQoL, found five ITQoL scales showed a ceiling affect. They also suggest for developing and evaluating a shortened ITQoL version to reduce respondent burden. (Easton et al., 2008) were tried to ascertain reliability and validity of the ITQoL. They did a study among 2-6 years old Ohio, United State children to evaluate the effect of dental caries related to pain on pediatric quality of life. That study found that it was valid and reliable index among children there. 2.6 The role of parents to the children Children age less than 6 years old still depending on the family members especially their parents to take care of their oral health. Their inability to verbalize their emotions and needs increases their dependence on adult. Parents support and involvement in childs oral health are important in influencing the dental health of the child. Parents play a key role in attempts to achieve the best oral health outcomes for their young children (Cafferata and Kasper, 1985). Parents need to have an adequate knowledge and attitude towards the important of oral health for their children. Parents need to know the important of baby teeth and primary teeth tooth decay can impact childhood health. (Schroth, 2007) found that parents who believed that baby teeth are important were more likely to have children with better oral health (less decay) compared with those who thought otherwise. And parents of children with ECC were more likely to disagree that dental decay could affect a childs overall health. Brushing of young childrens teeth is important to prevent caries, but the parents cannot let their children do it by themselves. Parent need to be motivated and supportive enough to brush their childs teeth. The parents should belief that home oral hygiene is important and it is a parental duty to establish this behaviour with children (Huebner and Riedy, 2010). Their study also found that nearly all (91%) parents thought that brush a childs teeth twice daily a day was important, but only 55% reported that they did it every day. Parents reported that the most common barriers to tooth brushing were due to lack of time and uncooperative child. 2.4 Oral health related quality of life of the parents

Comprehensive Study on Big Data Technologies and Challenges

Comprehensive Study on Big Data Technologies and Challenges Abstract: Big Data is at the heart of modern science and business. Big Data has recently emerged as a new paradigm for hosting and delivering services over the Internet. It offers huge opportunities to the IT industry. Big Data has become a valuable source and mechanism for researchers to explore the value of data sets in all kinds of business scenarios and scientific investigations. New computing platforms such as Mobile Internet, Social Networks and Cloud Computing are driving the innovations of Big Data. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the concept Big Data and it tries to address various Big Data technologies, challenges ahead and possible. It also explored certain services of Big Data over traditional IT service environment including data collection, management, integration and communication Keywords— Big Data, Cloud Computing, Distributed System, Volume I. INTRODUCTION Big Data has recently reached popularity and developed into a major trend in IT. Big Data are formed on a daily bases from Earth observations, social networks, model simulations, scientific research, application analyses, and many other ways. Big Data is a data analysis methodology enabled by a new generation of technologies and architecture which support high-velocity data capture, storage, and analysis. Data sources extend beyond the traditional corporate database to include email, mobile device output, sensor-generated data, and social media output. Data are no longer restricted to structured database records but include unstructured data. Big Data requires huge amounts of storage space. A typical big data storage and analysis infrastructure will be based on clustered network-attached storage. This paper firstly defines the Big Data concept and describes its services and main characteristics. â€Å"Big Data† is a term encompassing the use of techniques to capture, process, analyze and visualize potentially large datasets in a reasonable timeframe not accessible to standard IT technologies. II. Background Need of Big Data Big Data refers to large datasets that are challenging to store, search, share, visualize, and analyze the data. In Internet the volume of data we deal with has grown to terabytes and peta bytes. As the volume of data keeps growing, the types of data generated by applications become richer than before. As a result, traditional relational databases are challenged to capture, share, analyze, and visualize data. Many IT companies attempt to manage big data challenges using a NoSQL database, such as Cassandra or HBase, and may employ a distributed computing system such as Hadoop. NoSQL databases are typically key-value stores that are non-relational, distributed, horizontally scalable, and schema-free. We need a new methodology to manage big data for maximum business value. Data storage scalability was one of the major technical issues data owners were facing. Nevertheless, a new brand of efficient and scalable technology has been incorporated and data management and storage is no longer the problem it used to be. In addition, data is constantly being generated, not only by use of internet, but also by companies generating big amounts of information coming from sensors, computers and automated processes. This phenomenon has recently accelerated further thanks to the increase of connected devices and the worldwide success of the social platforms. Significant Internet players like Google, Amazon, Face Book and Twitter were the first facing these increasing data volumes and designed ad-hoc solutions to be able to cope with the situation. Those solutions have since, partly migrated into the open source software communities and have been made publicly available. This was the starting point of the current Big Data trend as it was a relatively cheap solution f or businesses confronted with similar problems. Dimensions of Big Data Fig. 1 shows the four dimensions of Big Data. They are discussed below. Fig. 1 Dimensions of Big Data Volume refers that Big Data involves analyze huge amounts of information, typically starting at tens of terabytes. It ranges from terabytes to peta bytes and up. The noSQL database approach is a response to store and query huge volumes of data heavily distributed. Velocity refers the speed rate in collecting or acquiring or generating or processing of data. Real-time data processing platforms are now considered by global companies as a requirement to get a competitive edge. For example, the data associated with a particular hash tag on Twitter often has a high velocity. Variety describes the fact that Big Data can come from many different sources, in various formats and structures. For example, social media sites and networks of sensors generate a stream of ever-changing data. As well as text, this might include geographical information, images, videos and audio. Veracity includesknown data quality, type of data, data management maturity so that we can understand how much the data is right and accurate 000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes Big Data Model The big data model is an abstract layer used to manage the data stored in physical devices. Today we have large volumes of data with different formats stored in global devices. The big data model provides a visual way to manage data resources, and creates fundamental data architecture so that we can have more applications to optimize data reuse and reduce computing costs. Types of data The data typically categorized into three differ ­ent types – structured, unstructured and semi-structured. A structured data is well organized, there are several choices for abstract data types, and references such as relations, links and pointers are identifiable. An unstructured data may be incomplete and/or heterogeneous, and often originates from multiple sources. It is not organized in an identifiable way, and typically includes bitmap images or objects, text and other data types that are not part of a database. Semi-structured data is orga ­nized, containing tags or other markers to separate semantic elements, III. Big Data Services Big Data provides enormous number of services. This paper explained some of the important services. They are given below. Data Management and Integration An enormous volume of data in different formats, constantly being collected from sensors, is efficiently accumulated and managed through the use of technology that automatically categorizes the data for archive storage. Communication and Control This comprises three functions for exchanging data with various types of equipment over networks: communications control, equipment control and gateway management. Data Collection and Detection By applying rules to the data that is streaming in from sensors, it is possible to conduct an analysis of the current status. Based on the results, decisions can be made with navigation or other required procedures performed in real time. Data Analysis The huge volume of accumulated data is quickly analyzed using a parallel distributed processing engine to create value through the analysis of past data or through future projections or simulations. IV. BIG DATA TECHNOLOGIES Internet companies such as Google, Yahoo and Face book have been pioneers in the use of Big Data technologies and routinely store hundreds of terabytes and even peta bytes of data on their systems. There are a growing number of technologies used to aggregate, manipulate, manage, and analyze big data. This paper described some of the more prominent technologies but this list is not exhaustive, especially as more technologies continue to be developed to support Big Data techniques. They are listed below. Big Table: Proprietary distributed database system built on the Google File System. This technique is an inspiration for HBase. Business intelligence (BI): A type of application software designed to report, analyze, and present data. BI tools are often used to read data that have been previously stored in a data warehouse or data mart. BI tools can also be used to create standard reports that are generated on a periodic basis, or to display information on real-time management dashboards, i.e., integrated displays of metrics that measure the performance of a system. Cassandra: An open source database management system designed to handle huge amounts of data on a distributed system. This system was originally developed at Face book and is now managed as a project of the Apache. Cloud computing: A computing paradigm in which highly scalable computing resources, often configured as a distributed system provided as a service through a network. Data Mart: Subset of a data warehouse, used to provide data to users usually through business intelligence tools. Data Warehouse: Specialized database optimized for reporting, often used for storing large amounts of structured data. Data is uploaded using ETL (extract, transform, and load) tools from operational data stores, and reports are often generated using business intelligence tools. Distributed system: Distributed file system or network file system allows client nodes to access files through a computer network. This way a number of users working on multiple machines will be able to share files and storage resources. The client nodes will not be able to access the block storage but can interact through a network protocol. This enables a restricted access to the file system depending on the access lists or capabilities on both servers and clients which is again dependent on the protocol. Dynamo: Proprietary distributed data storage system developed by Amazon. Google File System: Proprietary distributed file system developed by Google; part of the inspiration for Hadoop3.1 Hadoop: Apache Hadoop is used to handle Big Data and Stream Computing. Its development was inspired by Google’s MapReduce and Google File System. It was originally developed at Yahoo and is now managed as a project of the Apache Software Foundation. Apache Hadoop is an open source software that enables the distributed processing of large data sets across clusters of commodity servers. It can be scaled up from a single server to thousands of clients and with a very high degree of fault tolerance. HBase: An open source, free, distributed, non-relational database modeled on Google’s Big Table. It was originally developed by Powerset and is now managed as a project of the Apache Software foundation as part of the Hadoop. MapReduce: A software framework introduced by Google for processing huge datasets on certain kinds of problems on a distributed system also implemented in Hadoop. Mashup: An application that uses and combines data presentation or functionality from two or more sources to create new services. These applications are often made available on the Web, and frequently use data accessed through open application programming interfaces or from open data sources. Data Intensive Computing is a type of parallel computing application which uses a data parallel approach to process Big Data. This works based on the principle of collection of data and programs used to perform computation. Parallel and Distributed system that work together as a single integrated computing resource is used to process and analyze Big Data. IV. BIG DATA USING CLOUD COMPUTING The Big Data journey can lead to new markets, new opportunities and new ways of applying old ideas, products and technologies. Cloud Computing and Big Data share similar features such as distribution, parallelization, space-time, and being geographically dispersed. Utilizing these intrinsic features would help to provide Cloud Computing solutions for Big Data to process and obtain unique information. At the same time, Big Data create grand challenges as opportunities to advance Cloud Computing. In the geospatial information science domain, many scientists conducted active research to address urban, environment, social, climate, population, and other problems related to Big Data using Cloud Computing. V. TECHNICAL CHALLENGES Many of Big Data’s technical challenges also apply to data it general. However, Big Data makes some of these more complex, as well as creating several fresh issues. They are given below. Data Integration Organizations might also need to decide if textual data is to be handled in its native language or translated. Translation introduces considerable complexity — for example, the need to handle multiple character sets and alphabets. Further integration challenges arise when a business attempts to transfer external data to its system. Whether this is migrated as a batch or streamed, the infrastructure must be able to keep up with the speed or size of the incoming data. The IT organization must be able to estimate capacity requirements effectively. Companies such as Twitter and Face book regularly make changes to their application programming interfaces which may not necessarily be published in advance. This can result in the need to make changes quickly to ensure the data can still be accessed. Data Transformation Another challenge is data transformation .Transformation rules will be more complex between different types of system records. Organizations also need to consider which data source is primary when records conflict, or whether to maintain multiple records. Handling duplicate records from disparate systems also requires a focus on data quality. Historical Analysis Historical analysis could be concerned with data from any point in the past. That is not necessarily last week or last month — it could equally be data from 10 seconds ago. While IT professionals may be familiar with such an application its meaning can sometimes be misinterpreted by non-technical personnel encountering it. Search Searching unstructured data might return a large number of irrelevant or unrelated results. Sometimes, users need to conduct more complicated searches containing multiple options and fields. IT organizations need to ensure their solution provides the right type and variety of search interfaces to meet the business’s differing needs. And once the system starts to make inferences from data, there must also be a way to determine the value and accuracy of its choices. Data Storage As data volumes increase storage systems are becoming ever more critical. Big Data requires reliable, fast-access storage. This will hasten the demise of older technologies such as magnetic tape, but it also has implications for the management of storage systems. Internal IT may increasingly need to take a similar, commodity-based approach to storage as third-party cloud storage suppliers do today. It means removing rather than replacing individual failed components until they need to refresh the entire infrastructure. There are also challenges around how to store the data whether in a structured database or within an unstructured system or how to integrate multiple data sources. Data Integrity For any analysis to be truly meaningful it is important that the data being analyzed is as accurate, complete and up to date as possible. Erroneous data will produce misleading results and potentially incorrect insights. Since data is increasingly used to make business-critical decisions, consumers of data services need to have confidence in the integrity of the information those services are providing. Data Replication Generally, data is stored in multiple locations in case one copy becomes corrupted or unavailable. This is known as data replication. The volumes involved in a Big Data solution raise questions about the scalability of such an approach. However, Big Data technologies may take alternative approaches. For example, Big Data frameworks such as Hadoop are inherently resilient, which may mean it is not necessary to introduce another layer of replication. Data Migration When moving data in and out of a Big Data system, or migrating from one platform to another, organizations should consider the impact that the size of the data may have. To deal with data in a variety of formats, the volumes of data will often mean that it is not possible to operate on the data during a migration. Visualisation While it is important to present data in a visually meaningful form, organizations need to consider the most appropriate way to display the results of Big Data analytics so that the data does not mislead. IT should take into account the impact of visualisations on the various target devices, on network bandwidth and on data storage systems. Data Access The final technical challenge relates to controlling who can access the data, what they can access, and when. Data security and access control is vital in order to ensure data is protected. Access controls should be fine-grained, allowing organizations not only to limit access, but also to limit knowledge of its existence. Enterprises therefore need to pay attention to the classification of data. This should be designed to ensure that data is not locked away unnecessarily, but equally that it doesn’t present a security or privacy risk to any individual or company. VI. CONCLUSION This paper reviewed the technical challenges, various technologies and services of Big Data. Big Data describes a new generation of technologies and architectures, designed to economically extract value from very large volumes of a wide variety of data by enabling high-velocity capture. Linked Data databases will become more popular and could potentially push traditional relational databases to one side due to their increased speed and flexibility. This means businesses will be able to change to develop and evolve applications at a much faster rate. Data security will always be a concern, and in future data will be protected at a much more granular level than it is today. Currently Big Data is seen predominantly as a business tool. Increasingly, though, consumers will also have access to powerful Big Data applications. In a sense, they already do Google and various social media search tools. But as the number of public data sources grows and processing power becomes ever faster and c heaper, increasingly easy-to-use tools will emerge that put the power of Big Data analysis into everyone’s hands.

Essay --

Witch-hunts occurred throughout England for centuries, so it was no surprise that the witchcraft hysteria eventually reach colonial New England in the late seventeenth century, but this wave of fear was different from any other. Beginning with two young girls, witchcraft affected every person living in the New World and by the end, over twenty men and women were convicted of witchcraft, as well as entire communities living in constant fear of being touched by the Devil. Puritans, a group of English settlers, held strong beliefs about the Devil which sparked ideas of witchcraft among the Salem community. The austere Puritan lifestyle left little room for creativity, resulting in accusations against innocent people. Women, in addition to children, were inferior and considered weak; it was believed that Satan used them to carry out his wishes, and as a result, these people became witches. The severity of Puritan religious beliefs indirectly caused the witchcraft hysteria to reach its p eak during the Salem Witch Trials. Prominent and influential among the colonies, mainly Massachusetts, Puritanism was not only a religion, but a lifestyle. Puritans left England in 1630, with the intent to reform the Church of England. These English Protestants were discontent on how the Church of England was run and they made it their mission to â€Å"purify† and eliminate the church of Catholic influences, as well as â€Å"invigorate daily practices of religion.† Overall, Puritans desired â€Å"England to be reformed as John Calvin (1509-1564) had reformed Geneva (Hall, 21).† By moving to New England, Puritans had the freedom to establish their own religious authority. Puritanism controlled every activity in order to maintain a constant unity between people and Go... ...ities. â€Å"Young women at that time had nothing at all to feed their imaginations. There were no fairy tales or stories, no art, theater, or classical music (Kallen 23).† In addition to restrictions of childhood, extreme pressure was placed on children to remain pure or suffer the potential punishments from the Devil. At young ages, fear was planted in children’s minds causing hyperawareness of Satan’s wrath to frighten a child’s consciousness (Hall 23). The combination of fear, lack of imaginative outlets, and pressures on children were catalysts to the uproar of witches and witchcraft. With little ability and opportunity to express any behavior other than obedience, it was understandable that young Abigail Williams and Betty Paris claimed that they were possessed by witches, and in turn, these accusations engulfed the entire settlement of Salem into the hysteria.

John F. Kennedy Essay -- Essays Papers

John F. Kennedy On November 22, 1963, while being driven through the streets of Dallas, Texas, in his pen car, President John F. Kennedy was shot dead, apparently by the lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald. The world had not only lost a common man, but a great leader of men. From his heroic actions in World War II to his presidency, makind decisions to avert possible nuclear conflict with world superpowers, greatness can be seen. Kennedy also found the time to author several best-selling novels from his experiences. His symbolic figure represented all the charm, vigor and optimism of youth as he led a nation into a new era of prosperity. From his birth into the powerful and influential Kenndy clan, much was to be expected of him. Kennedy was born on May 29, 1917 in Brookline, Massachuasetts. His father, Joe, Sr., was a successful businessman with many political connections. Appointed by President Roosevelt, Joe Sr., was given the chair of the Securities and Exchange Comminision and later the prestigious position of United States ambassador to Great Britian. His mother, Rose, was a loving housewife and took young John on frequent trips around historic Boston learning about American revolutionary history. Both parents impressed on their children that their country had been good to the Kennedys. Whatever benefits the family received from the country they were told, must be returned by preforming some service for the country. The Kennedy clan included Joe, Jr., Bobby, Ted and their sisters, Eunice, Jean, Patricia, Rosemary, and Kathleen. Joe, Jr., was a significant figure in yound John’s like as he was the figure for most of John’s admiration. His older brother was much bigger and stronger than John and took it upon himslef to be John’s coach and protector. John’s childhood was full of sports, fun and activity. This all ended when John grew old enough to leave for school. At the age of 13, John left home to attend an away school for the first time. Canterbury School, a boarding school in New Milford, Connecticut and Choate Preparatory in Wallinford, Connecticut completed his elementary education. John graduated in 1934 and was promised a trip to London as a graduation gift. Soon after, John became ill with jaundice and would have to go to the hospital. He spent the rest of the sumer trying to recover. He ... ... on January 3, 1967. Kennedy was the first President to be born in the 20th Century and was very much a man of his time. He was restless, seeking, with a thirst of knowledge, and he had a feeling of deep commitment, not only to the people of the United States, but to the peoples of the world. Many of the causes he fouhgt for exist today because of what he did for the rights of minorities, the poor, the very old and the very young. He never took anything for granted adn worked for everything he owned. Perhaps Kennedy summed up his life best in his own inaugural speech: â€Å"Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country.† Bibliography: Jim Marrs CROSSFIRE: THE PLOT THAT KILLED KENNEDY, New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1989. James DiEugenio, DESTINY BETRAYED: JFK, CUBA, AND THE GARRISON CASE, New York: Sheridan Square Press, Inc., 1992. Harrison Edward Livingstone, HIGH TREASON 2, New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1992. www.ourworld.compuserve.com/homepage/MGriffith/suspects.htm J.F.K. & the cold war Urs Schwarz, John F. Kennedy, C.J. Bucher Ltd 1964 Elizabeth Greenup, Case Studies in Modern History, 1987